Near Ras Lanuf, Libya, on Friday, where rebel lines began to crumble before an onslaught of airstrikes and artillery fire.Credit
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

RAS LANUF, Libya — Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi trumpeted their retaking of the rebellious city of Zawiyah near the capital and pressed toward the country’s largest refinery here Friday, as rebel lines began to crumble before an onslaught of airstrikes, tank and artillery fire, and relentless siege.

Plumes of smoke turned clear skies a somber gray after warplanes struck a fuel-storage tank at the refinery and fighters set a dozen tires on fire in a futile attempt to provide cover. Rumors tumbled through dwindling crowds of fighters that spies were among them, and volleys of antiaircraft fire seemed aimed more at lifting people’s flagging spirits than at bringing down the warplanes that sent rebels scurrying for cover behind sand dunes.

The setbacks were the clearest sign yet of the momentum Colonel Qaddafi’s government has seized as it tries to crush the greatest challenge to his nearly 42 years of idiosyncratic rule. Through fear and intimidation, he has silenced protests in Tripoli, ravaged Zawiyah, where the rebels had once delivered the revolt to his doorstep, and brought himself within striking distance of a series of strategic oil towns in eastern Libya.

“We’re exposed here,” said Yusuf Ibrahim, a lieutenant colonel from Benghazi who deserted to the rebel ranks and has tried to coordinate defenses here. “There are no trenches. Do you see any trenches here? This is a wide-open space, and anything is possible.”

The advances of Colonel Qaddafi’s forces raised questions of what strategy he might be pursuing in the aftermath of the three-week revolt. Eastern Libya remains tentatively but almost uniformly in opposition hands, and tens of thousands turned out for Friday Prayer, where a cleric urged patience with the revolt. But with the fall of Ras Lanuf and Zawiyah, Colonel Qaddafi is on the verge of retaking installations that refine nearly 90 percent of Libya’s oil production, pumped from the largest reserves in Africa.

In the afternoon, the government drove foreign journalists to a macabre spectacle in Zawiyah, 30 miles from the capital. Less than two weeks ago, the city was firmly in rebel hands, and thousands of residents celebrated in the central square, adorned with the opposition flag and defended by defected soldiers armed with antiaircraft guns.

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A damaged building in Zawiyah, Libya, where on Friday the Libyan government bused in a group of foreign journalists to show that Qaddafi’s forces had retaken the town.Credit
Moises Saman for The New York Times

On Friday, after days of house-to-house searches and attacks with tanks and artillery, the government proved it had at last recaptured the square. Soldiers in mismatched uniforms blocked reporters from leaving the square, but the devastation told its own story.

The apartment buildings and businesses ringing the square were in ruins: broken windows, collapsed walls and balconies, artillery holes everywhere. Mangled street lamps, flattened by tanks, lay across the sidewalk. The corner of the town mosque had been blown in and the top of its minaret knocked off. The speaker for the call to prayer was dangling by a wire; behind it was a tangled heap of burned-out vehicles.

Green and white streamers covered badly damaged buildings where Colonel Qaddafi’s forces had hastily painted over murals of the rebels’ tricolor flag. Bulldozer tracks crossed patches of sandy dirt where rebels had buried some of their dead, and flag-waving supporters of the Libyan leader milled about.

In interviews, his supporters all offered the same testimony: The Libyan Army had liberated the town from foreign terrorists. Several insisted, despite the evidence, that there had been little or no violence. Two somber men said it was too dangerous to talk, and a government minder escorting journalists called the experience “extraterrestrial.”

Even as momentum shifted, it was still hard to envision Colonel Qaddafi’s forces retaking Benghazi without a far more devastating battle than the one Zawiyah witnessed. Even now, his forces seem stretched, and the advance has proceeded slowly. The city of 700,000 has been the headquarters of the opposition, which has sought to set up a state in waiting and already won recognition from France as Libya’s government.

Tens of thousands prayed outside the courthouse in Benghazi, the largest crowd for Friday Prayer in weeks, during a service watched over by men with rocket-propelled grenade launchers. A man in the gathering held a pleading sign: “No civil war in Libya. It’s a war for freedom.” Another sign lauded the “heroes” of Zawiyah.

“They want to suppress the voice of virtue, of truth,” the imam, Yusri al-Haddar, said of Colonel Qaddafi’s government, as he addressed worshipers stretching to the Mediterranean. “This is the cause of liberation. We say to them, we believe in our cause.”

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A rebel fighter reacted to an airstrike near the oil refinery in Ras Lanuf.Credit
Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

“Patience,” he added, “is the key to success.”

In the nearly empty courthouse next door, rebel leaders did not seem interested in patience. With the defeats in Ras Lanuf and Zawiyah, opposition leaders seemed to grow more desperate in their pleas for any kind of foreign assistance.

“If you talk to people, they’re starting to accept any kind of intervention, even though it’s not good for the revolution to be tainted by that,” said Essam Gheriani, one of a group of spokesmen for the opposition leadership, which is based at the courthouse.

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The plea was echoed at the front near Ras Lanuf, where fighters dwindled to a few hundred on Friday from more than 1,000. Government forces were seen firing from Ras Lanuf, which the rebels held Thursday, and the front advanced a few miles from the refinery.

“We withdrew yesterday. Why?” asked Ahmed Tajjouri, a 25-year-old fighter. “Because we don’t have air defenses, defenses against the sea. What are we going to do if the warplanes come? Tanks are coming, too, and we don’t have those either.”

A tumultuous series of events began with the midday prayers, as fighters gathered near an ammunition dump and kneeled on prayer rugs, cardboard, scarves and even a mattress. Jawdeh al-Fakhri, one of the fighters, offered a sermon that scolded some for stealing guns and gasoline and beseeched others to stiffen their resolve before the assault.

“If you don’t want to be a martyr, then turn over your weapons, and no one will hold it against you,” Mr. Fakhri said through a red-and-white megaphone.

Shelling echoed in the distance, offering a cadence to the prayers. Worshipers quickened the rituals as the barrage intensified and sent plumes of dust into a spring breeze. “Peace be upon you, and the mercy of God,” he said, as the prayers closed.

Video

Friday Prayers in Benghazi

After the capture of Ras Lanuf by Qaddafi's forces, the rebels in Benghazi reflect on their loss at Friday prayers.

Men jumped up, shouting “God is great,” and many took off by foot or caught rides on pickups as they barreled forward toward the front at Ras Lanuf. Mr. Ibrahim, the rebel commander, pleaded with them not to travel in groups or fire their guns randomly.

Most of them ignored him, in a scene that was part protest, part celebration and part calamity. “The blood of the martyrs will not be shed in vain,” some chanted, jabbing their rifles into the air. Others walked forward unarmed. “Bring us weapons,” said Islam Mahdi, a smiling 19-year-old, who took a break with friends on the highway railing.

Government forces soon unleashed a devastating barrage of mortar and tank fire and an airstrike that came within yards of hitting an ammunition dump. Rebels retreated in disarray. Sport utility vehicles ran over boxes of ammunition and a pickup careened down the road, driving on the rim of a flat tire. One fighter shot his rocket-propelled grenade into the air, at nothing, and others shouted “God is great” as they fled.

“There are spies among us,” said Ayman Mohammed, a 27-year-old fighter, running away. “How would they have known the ammunition dump was there?”

For a few hours, the fighters regrouped, though their numbers had dwindled more. A few stood atop a hill, waving an opposition flag and carrying binoculars.

“Fear is half of courage,” said one of them, Khalifa al-Awkali, a 39-year-old rebel from Darnah, a coastal town several hours to the east. “But we’re not scared, and we’re not going to surrender in the face of this tyrant. This is going to be the Friday of martyrs.”

A little before dusk, courage was not enough. More barrages struck the barren expanse near the refinery, laying down a line of fire on both sides of the road. Everyone seemed to scramble toward vehicles, and traffic was snarled as rebels beat a retreat.

More than a few flashed V-for-victory signs, as they headed away from Ras Lanuf.

A version of this article appears in print on March 12, 2011, on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Libyan Rebels Defiant but in Disarray, as Qaddafi’s Forces Gain Momentum. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe